Feeling Fine
by Ill Lasanga
Summary: A meeting between a lost time traveler and a vengeful teen turns into something that neither of them had before: Friendship. 50 sentences, Spoilers for Unwound Future. AU.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own any characters from the video game Professor Layton and The Unwound Future. That privilege belongs to the game developers known as Level 5.

**Summary:** A meeting between a lost time traveler and a vengeful teen turns into something that neither of them had before: Friendship. 50 sentences, Spoilers for Unwound Future. AU.

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><p><strong>Spoilers for Unwound Future! SO! MANY! <strong>_**SPOILERS**_**!**

**Notes: **Clive and Claire are NOT a couple in this story. They are merely friends. This changes the game because there was no hint or evidence that Clive and Claire had ever met. He may have just let her wander in 'Future London' out of pity, or it could've been an oversight he didn't want to fix.

I actually have no idea what Clive or Claire's canon ages are, so I'm making Clive 19 in this story, and Claire 27. Clive was born when Claire was 18, but thanks to time travel, they are 8 years apart. Also, Clive was 9 when the explosion happened and 14 when Constance Dove (his adoptive mother) died.

There is no set 'time' for Claire to be in 'Future London', she only appeared in the busy streets during the game and there is no evidence of her wandering around for long.

I assumed that Claire appeared at least a few weeks before the Demonstration where Bill Hawks was nabbed. This is also assuming that Dimitri and Clive were already in contact and planning the whole thing before Claire arrived, leaving her without information and prompting her to investigate. 'Future London' was obviously constructed by that time, so Claire lived there full-time while Dimitri would come down every so often to check on her and examine Clive's handiwork.

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><p><strong>Feeling Fine<strong>

1. Their first introduction to each other…wasn't.

2. Clive had made a habit of visiting the underground laboratory every day, making sure that his kidnapped scientists had decent food and any ideas that they should leave were firmly squashed into dust.

3. It was there that he first saw her.

4. He thought she was a simple assistant and moved on, uncaring.

5. Likewise, she never noticed Clive, and the only mentioning of him from Dimitri was 'the sponsor of the entire project, a very generous person who I happened to meet by sheer coincidence'.

6. His second introduction to her wasn't really an introduction, just more of a response to, "Hey, I'm going to ignore the person that I spent over ten years pining for and leave her in an unfamiliar city without any knowledge whatsoever, KTHNXBAI!" (insert smarmy smile that Clive _knows_ he's seen somewhere before.)

7. They met near the Thames, on a green park bench.

8. She wondered, briefly, if she should use her real name.

9. Her friend, ten years removed since she'd seen him last, had sworn her to secrecy; it was imperative to the experiment that no one knew about what year it actually _was_, much less where they were.

10. Claire admitted that it was an impressive plan; desperation is the main source of inspiration, after all.

11. She didn't like it when Dimitri was forced to be away from her for so long.

12. But, the woman smiled, and told the polite young man her 'estranged sister's' name.

13. Clive accepted it without a second thought.

14. So, they talked, and Claire wanted to wander Chinatown, so he let her, with a guide of course.

15. Himself, for there was no other choice, she could quickly discover what this place was made for.

16. They spent the afternoon rifling through books in an out-of-the-way store.

17. Clive left with 3 paperback whodunits, the entire set of Harry Potter books that he told himself to get _ages_ ago, his ear ringing with the differences between 'Constructed Worlds' and 'Like reality but only a _bit_ different' thanks to the irate shopkeeper, and a smile that he wasn't sure was faked.

18. Claire left with 4 hardcover Sherlock Holmes, a nose full of book dust, an irritation for the shopkeeper's lack of taste in mysteries, a mental note to steal one of those Harry Potter books that Clive seemed so intent on owning, and a puzzle book, for no reason at all.

19. Correction, she does know the reason, but she won't realize until she's halfway through the book and thinks of adorable gentlemen looking confused in top hats.

20. They both promise to meet again, at the green park bench.

21. The days pass, slow under Future London's stone sky.

22. Clive and Claire meet again, and again, talking of nonsense, magical puzzles and murder mysteries.

23. When Claire finally gets around to telling him about her job, about how she worked with Dimitri and Bill once, his shoulders tense, and his smile breaks at the seams.

24. She doesn't notice.

25. They trek the entirety of Chinatown in a week, and to Clive's surprise, not one of those visits involved food.

26. He tries to take her out to lunch the next day.

27. "Well, this _is_ lunch," he tried again, "It's the main course of a meal that originated in Japan, called ramen," Clive looked incredulous, "Can't believe you never heard of it, it's the college kid's best friend."

28. She quickly rounded on him again, "No, I don't _care _what you say people eat in Japan because THIS! IS! SOUP!"

29. "You haven't taken a bite yet, have you?" Clive deadpanned, as if her resistance to all foreign food would be solved by eating it.

30. She steamed, glaring furiously at Clive while grabbing her chopsticks and fishing out noodles from her bowl.

31. '_Pretty good,_' she thought, but she told him, "It's still soup."

32. Clive made a long suffering sigh, then continued with his pork and vegetable ramen.

33. They had left the restaurant, "You know, I was going to give you a heads up about Dimitri's permanent return, but now I think you don't deserve it."

34. "Wha," Claire was confused, and Clive had to stop himself from laughing, so he said, "Dimitri's going to disappear from the public's view for a while, and he's bringing a few people along."

35. Suddenly she sees Dimitri again, blurring the lines between memory and reality.

_36. "It's very important to the plan that no one knows you're here; you're my ace in the hole, Claire, I can't let them have the upper hand." _

37. She was tired of hiding; Bill, Dimitri, even _Hershel _sometimes saw her like a porcelain doll, and out of chauvinistic ignorance or gentlemanly upbringing, hid her from most of their problems.

38. "Clive, it's time I've told you: I'm Claire;" She continues, at first noticing surprise on his face, "Something happened ten years ago, I know that much, but Dimitri won't tell me - he keeps looking at me as if I'm going to disappear into thin air; I need you to tell me the truth."

39. She wants him to say it - to stop this charade, so that they're on even ground, so that the trees, buildings, and the cursed ceiling are witnesses to his truth.

40. At the same time, she doesn't want to hear it.

41. Then Clive exhales, a change coming over him, shoulders falling, his eyes carefully blank, nearly trembling under her concern, and it was then she saw the sheer _brokenness _of him; how his smiles were stretched to the seams, always so attentive, as if Clive had one thought about himself he'd fall to pieces, preferring to embroil himself in another person, another life.

42. Then he snaps back, with calm that wasn't there before, "If it's any consolation, it was long ago for me," Clive was sitting on the bench, _their bench_, Claire reminded herself, "You had the easy part, Claire; You died," Clive's voice was factual, direct, and filled to the brim with dark humor.

43. The statement thrummed in her head, in tune with her heartbeat, _'You died, you died, you died, you died, …'_

44. He stared at the Thames, seeming now more than ever like a small child in the presence of death itself.

45. Another thought broke through, '_Dimitri wants me to live, even after all of this time, there must be _something_ I can do._'

46. She quickly wrapped her arms around Clive, holding him close while rocking him back and forth.

47. Clive immediately tensed at the action, much like Claire thought he would.

48. "You have no idea what I've put in motion, what I've _wanted to do for so long_," His eyes well up in fear, fear of his only friend's rejection, the one thing he didn't count on mattering in the end.

49. "Everything's going to be alright Clive," She said, "We can stop this, I swear, whatever plans that Dimitri has, whatever project you've been doing on the side, however mad that your lackeys will be that the plot's been foiled, we can stop this madness _right now_, but you've got to trust me, okay?"

50. Clive smiled cautiously, "Yeah," He sighed, "Let's go find Dimitri."

**The End**

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><p>What happens to them after that? It's up to interpretation.<p>

What I find funny is that if Clive doesn't end up being the main villain, no one is. The Mobile Fortress would've been unused, and we wouldn't have gotten the awesome and climactic finale. Clive's presence and effect on the story is like a structural thing: he makes the plot have a point: revenge in the most complicated way possible. He exists to make the story work, and Clive just isn't Clive without a traumatic past.

Also, if Dimitri was driven by pride gone too far, and Bill had greed, then Clive definitely had to be wrath. Nothing says 'I'm angry at the world!' like a giant mecha against London town.

Reviews are puzzles,

**Ill**


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